Austin American-Statesman
October 6

Since its campaign in Afghanistan started last October, the U.S. military has expanded significantly around the globe, primarily in Muslim nations, as part of the strategy to stamp out international terrorism. Today, more than 55,000 U.S. military personnel live and work in a dozen countries stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific Ocean, including former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

The display of strength, U.S. officials say, will increase America's national security by allowing quick response against terrorist threats and enhancing regional stability, especially in the Middle East and Asia where militant Islam has roots. Yet diplomats and analysts have questioned whether this strategy will eventually foster more terrorism because the allies Washington has chosen don't embrace the values of democracy and freedom.

"The United States is playing a dangerous game," said Alexander Zhilin, a retired Soviet military officer and Afghan veteran turned defense analyst. "They are moving away from the laudable national ideology that America defends human rights to America defends its national security, no matter what the cost. Such a policy is doomed to backfire."

In declaring a war on terrorism, the White House has sought nearly $3.8 billion from Congress in security-related aid for 67 countries. It also has lifted a series of restrictions on arms sales and transfers for many of them, although 32 of these nations have what the State Department labeled as "poor" or "very poor" human rights records.

Uzbekistan reconsidered

One such partner is Uzbekistan, an impoverished, arid country that now has 1,000 to 2,000 American soldiers living and working on an air base that handles supplies and logistics for the war in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan is run by Islam Karimov, a Soviet-era boss who declared himself a democrat after the country gained its independence from Moscow a decade ago. He has run unopposed in presidential elections ever since.

Karimov has not allowed freedom of religion or expression, saying he does not want the nation infected by the militant political Islam practiced in Afghanistan, his southern neighbor. In the early 1990s both Afghanistan and neighboring Tajikistan were engulfed in civil wars fought by religious factions looking to overthrow repressive governments.

Publishing a Quran or Bible is a felony in Uzbekistan, as is organizing an impromptu prayer meeting. More than 6,000 Uzbeks, both Muslims and Christians, have been jailed for attending houses of worship that were not approved by the government. Organized political opposition also is illegal in this nation of 24 million people.

The annual State Department human rights report last year described Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights," where police "routinely torture, beat and otherwise mistreat detainees."

For this record of abuses, Uzbekistan was never known as one of America's closest friends. But last year, that status changed as it did with other authoritarian regimes across the region. Pakistan, run by a military government, became a key ally. U.S. troops also landed in nearby Kyrgyzstan, where between 800 and 1,000 American soldiers are now based.

With Pakistan balking last fall at allowing U.S. combat missions against Afghanistan to be launched from its soil, Karimov allowed the use of an Uzbek airbase just 30 miles from the Afghan border. U.S. Special Forces and helicopters routinely conducted missions into Afghanistan from the Khanabad base, making it a key component in the campaign.

In March, Karimov was welcomed to the White House, where he was rewarded with an aid package of more than $160 million, triple what Uzbekistan had previously received in annual aid. President Bush also signed an agreement that says Washington would regard any external threat to Karimov's government with "grave concern."

American officials say that the war against terrorism does not mean a repeat of the mistakes of the Cold War, when the United States, in the name of global security, often backed dictators at the expense of human rights. Indeed, the White House says it means to build democracy, not quash it.

Part of the expanded U.S. aid package to Uzbekistan was $14 million dedicated to supporting independent media, civil society and student exchanges. The long list of American dignitaries, from Gen. Tommy Franks to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, have visited Uzbekistan this year and stressed the importance of human rights and economic reform for a continuing close relationship with America.

Although the message may be delivered frequently, it's unclear what leverage the White House has to back up its words. Throughout the 1990s, Uzbekistan was denied economic and military aid because of its human rights record. After Sept. 11, the Bush administration uncoupled economic aid from measurable human rights reform, according to diplomats familiar with the negotiations.

U.S. officials say the linkage is not necessary because Karimov has taken to heart the need for democratic change, an attitude seconded by Uzbek officials.

"The presence of the United States here has led to a new reform dynamic. We understand that the United States wants democracy here, and we understand that more democracy leads to more stability," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev. In the past year Uzbekistan has seen a number of human rights "firsts," including a presidential amnesty for 850 political prisoners and the arrest of four police officers on charges of beating to death a 25-year-old man who was detained for alleged ties with an outlawed Islamic group. Karimov also succeeded in pushing through a parliamentary vote that extended his presidential term by two years.

Human rights watchers dismiss these as empty gestures, saying the Uzbek government has not implemented institutional reform that would keep political or religious dissenters from being jailed or police from torturing detainees in the future. "The security apparatus has taken the new U.S. relationship and used it to strengthen their mandate," said Matilda Bogner, a researcher in Tashkent for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based nonprofit group that monitors worldwide rights issues. "We are told by political prisoners that police tell (them), 'America used to be on your side, but now they are on ours.'"

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